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Solvent-aided phase separation in hydrogel towards significantly enhanced mechanoresponsive strength |
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| Authors: | Lu Haibao Xing Ziyu Chen Mingji Yu Kai Fu Yong Qing |
| Affiliation: | 1.National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Advanced Composites in Special Environments, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150080, China ;2.Institute of Advanced Structure Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China ;3.Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, 80217, USA ;4.Faculty of Engineering and Environment, University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK ; |
| Abstract: | Understanding working principles and thermodynamics behind phase separations, which have significant influences on condensed molecular structures and their performances, can inspire to design and fabricate anomalously and desirably mechanoresponsive hydrogels. However, a combination of techniques from physicochemistry and mechanics has yet been established for the phase separation in hydrogels. In this study, a thermodynamic model is firstly formulated to describe solvent-aided phase and microphase separations in the hydrogels, which present significantly improved mechanoresponsive strengths. Flory–Huggins theory and interfacial energy equation have further been applied to model the thermodynamics of concentration-dependent and temperature-dependent phase separations. An intricately detailed phase map has finally been formulated to explore the working principle. The thermodynamic methodology of phase separations, combined with the constitutive stress–strain relationships, has a great potential to explore the working mechanisms in mechanoresponsive hydrogels. Graphic abstract |
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